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A lot of people work virtually regardless of their location. You can return to the office but it doesn't stop. You still work as if it was remote because there
by iteratethis 3y ago
A lot of people work virtually regardless of their location. You can return to the office but it doesn't stop. You still work as if it was remote because there will always be somebody in the meeting that isn't there. They could be at home, in a different building, or a vendor in another country.
Such is the consequence of complex organizations and outsourcing, as well as employees increasing demands to have a say in their schedule.
When you really think about it, collaboration is the problem rather than the solution. The modern distributed nature of work means that you need a huge amount of collaboration to even figure out what to do, when, and to resolve all dependencies.
So it's pretty maddening that managers call for more collaboration. We need less of it. The perfect workflow is where you tell me with clarity what to do, and then let me do it without distractions or changing everything halfway-through.
Modern employees spent half their time in email, chat and meetings. Not producing anything. And that's generous, quite a few have to find actual productive time in the fragmented 10% of their schedule. It's as if we've all become managers.
- tcgv 3y ago> collaboration is the problem rather than the solution Spot on. > The perfect workflow is where you tell me with clarity what to do, and then let me do it without distractions or changing everything halfway-through In traditional manufacturing processes (i.e., physical goods), this is possible and often achieved. Productivity can be easily measured by dividing the physical output - like the number of items produced - by the factory headcount. Innovation exists in cycles that precede manufacturing, since changes to the factory layout are expensive and often require interrupting production. Software development is a different beast. Innovation is intermingled in the 'manufacturing' process. Requirements change faster, and we need processes to accommodate that. Work happens in smaller time frames (e.g., two-week sprints). Productivity and delivered value are harder to measure. Paying customers are in the loop and provide constant feedback we need to filter and incorporate for our 'product' to succeed. The software development challenge is more consultative in nature than the manufacturing one.
- just_boost_it 3y agoMy dream is for the entire industry to start demanding this perfect workflow. Then I will be even more valuable wherever I go.